My mother is laced with creativity. She was recently offered a residency for an ‘intergenerational sharing project’, where she will share her vision of upcycling and sewing, and how it routes back into the relationship with her mother, her daughters, and the community that surrounds us. In the months leading up to this, I’ve witnessed her creativity fuse with her resourcefulness and practicality, creating this new profound principle of circular usage and non-waste – or, as she calls it: upcycling. Her fervour for this approach has infiltrated my life in ways that I did not think were possible. I began going the local hospice thrift shops with her. The volunteers at the shops began to recognize us – and in turn, I began to recognize them as part of my community. It became apparent to me that the character of material things old and worn-out had lived many lives before we came into contact. Perhaps these materials could live many lives afterwards as well, if given the proper care and treatment. I watched my mother and these volunteers breathe care and worth back into these items once deemed unwanted. Not too long afterwards, I took this approach towards my own material. With my mother’s help, I began to hem, sew, customize, modify my own clothing to fit me. Neighbours with broken jeans came knocking on our door and left with mended pants, friends transformed an old blanket into a new apron, others simply came with unwanted fabric and left with a full stomach. My community started to stitch together a little closer. With greater intention in letting go and greater tenacity in transforming the things I keep, life – both materially and emotionally – has become a little lighter, and also a little more meaningful. Previously, in my day-to-day life, waste did not seem to be in the forefront of my cares. Out of sight, out of mind. Compounded with the fact that my reckoning with my queer identity is highly suited towards presenting a style that manifests in a material way, this combination of waste and excess unknowingly weighed down my life. However, I realized that the participation in excess is not mandatory in self-expression, style, or material identity. The meditative qualities of slow-fashion are abundantly more rewarding than the quick gratification of fast fashion. As I’ve learned from my mother: there lies a strange power in fusing sentimentality with sustainability. My contributions towards a cleaner environment coalesce into a local, first-hand experience. Sustainability operates both on a global and local scale; it is both worldwide and on my doorstep. I plan to integrate these principles that my mother taught me into my upcoming experiences while studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh. It will be a challenge to bring these principles into a brand-new environment, but I am excited to see how creativity, resourcefulness, and the sustainability of upcycling manifests itself through these once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
